Blog

Tag Archives: placemaking

August 15, 2022

Why Place Matters

Placemaking has continued to show the importance of creating a quality of life that attracts people to a community. This draw allows for better economic development. Without place, there is no community – no development. The Michigan Municipal League is…
January 11, 2022

The Biggest Little Fix: Code Reform for Better Places

Last year we released our second “Enabling Better Places” guide with our partners at the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) and MEDC’s Redevelopment Ready Communities program (RRC). These two guides provide a strategy for communities of all sizes to examine…
April 16, 2021

Community Wealth Building: Taking It to Our Small Towns

“While the effects of the pandemic have been felt unevenly across Michigan communities, it has further emphasized the changing needs of our members.” Over the past year, the League has built out our evolving policy platform on Community Wealth Building.…
December 7, 2020

It Gets Cold Here—May As Well Enjoy It.

“That might work in Minneapolis, but you know we have winter here, right?” someone once objected. I think we were talking about bike commuting, but we could have been discussing any number of quality of life or placemaking ideas. That…
November 10, 2020

Rebuilding the Heart of the Community

Back in the early 1970s, Pat Lockwood fell in love with a small town in mid-Michigan. She moved to Fenton, and soon thereafter, the community passed a ballot initiative to close Leroy Street and level much of the historic downtown…
October 14, 2020

The Road to Community Wealth

(Note: The following blog by the Michigan Municipal League's Lisa Donovan is about the opening general session presentation by League CEO and Executive Director Dan Gilmartin during the League's first-ever virtual conference, Sept. 30. This article will also appear in…
November 7, 2018

The League Launches New Program on Developing Great Places

Over the past several years, the League has worked with many partners to create how-to guides, conduct data-informed studies, and carry out dynamic placemaking activities in communities across Michigan. W've now built a new online collection of resources, success stories,…
February 16, 2017

New MSHDA Grant to Fund Neighborhood Placemaking

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) recently announced a request for proposals (RFP) for a new "Neighborhood Enhancement Program" that provides communities an opportunity to fund placemaking projects in priority neighborhoods. MSHDA worked with the League and other statewide partners…
April 18, 2016

Downtown Pontiac ‘remagined’ by planners, residents

Downtown Pontiac has tremendous potential - planners said following three-days of intensive study by the Congress of the New Urbanism. Three days of conceptualization and team effort culminated in Sunday's meeting to conclude the Congress of New Urbanism Legacy Project…
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